The Conservative leader of a large unitary local authority has been ousted after trying to push through plans to part-privatise a range of key services.

Alec Robertson lost his job at Cornwall council after moves by the cabinet he headed to press ahead with the reforms even though most members had voted against them.

During a heated meeting to discuss whether Robertson should be removed, critics claimed the plans he had championed would take many services out of democratic control.

Graham Walker, an independent councillor, claimed the full council had clearly voted not to proceed with the "privatisation of support services".

He said: "This council rejected a policy that has no democratic mandate. This council rejected a policy that risks millions of pounds of Cornish taxpayers' money. Most importantly this council rejected a policy that risks losing meaningful control of services and ends any notion we may have of democratic accountability."

Walker said Robertson's attempts to press on had shown disdain for members and for democracy. "I no longer have confidence in a leader who chooses to put himself, ideology and party politics before the clear decision of the democratically elected representatives of the people of Cornwall," he said.

Robertson's supporters said the move to oust him could leave the council, run by a coalition of Conservatives and independent councillors, rudderless at a time when it was having to manage deep cuts.

Graeme Hicks, another independent councillor, said forcing Robertson out was damaging and destructive and had plunged the council into "anarchy".

At one point during the debate, the chairman, Pat Harvey, called for security to remove a councillor who had accused a fellow member of being a "backstabber". A webcast of the meeting was halted for two minutes while tempers cooled. Such was the interest in the meeting that the hashtag #ccwebcast trended on Twitter.

Robertson is keen on the council working with a private-sector partner to help run services such as libraries, advice centres and assessing benefits claimants. He argued that such a move could realise 20% savings in the first two years and up to 5% annual savings thereafter, and create new jobs as well as protect essential services.

In the summer the full council voted against the plan but the cabinet said it would press ahead. The communications giant BT and the outsourcing specialists CSC were bidding for the contract.

The council is due to debate the issue again later this month, and Robertson said before his ousting that the cabinet had listened to the concerns and would, after all, respect the majority views of the council. But the change was not enough to save his job and 63 members voted in favour of his removal, with 49 against.